Hi guys,
Long time reader. Finally joined. I have a 700 SPS Tactical on order and should be here this week. It is a .308. I will be using it to hunt deer in Michigan with. Yardage will be 50-300 yards. I need a scope for it and have been looking at this one:

I take it you'll be hunting from blinds and tree stands most of the time? The SPS tactical is a little heavy for what I'd like in a hunting rifle. However if you aren't going to be hiking much then it will work fine as a double duty rifle.

I think that scope will serve you just fine for your intended useage. However buy the one without the mounts, they will not work with your SPS tactical unless you add a Picatinny rail. That mount is more for flat top AR rifles so the scope height might be wrong as well to get your eye to line up with the scope.

As far as ammo go to your local Walmart, Dicks, or such and buy the cheap 150 grain Winchester power point, Remington Core Lokt, or Federal Fusion soft points and see what shoots best. That is all the bullet you'll ever need for hunting deer, just keep it simple. Just make sure to get a good zero and consistant shot groups of around 1.5" or less before you go hunting and you'll be fine, you can worry about smaller shot groups when you use the match ammo at the range.

While all the ammo above will be more than adequate for white tail if you want to see what accuracy your rifle is truly made of using higher end ammo. Even store bought ammo can be verry accurate.

For initial sight in use the cheapest ammo you can find. For final sight in use something with as much accuracy as you can afford.

Then I might switch to whatever you plan to hunt with and see where the POI -point of impact is for that round in reference so you know where to aim. Critical is to let the barrel cool for 5 -10 minutes between shots when verifying the huntin load. Groups in succession are cool and show what the rifle is capable of but a hunting shot will be cold bore. To get true indication on the range, you need to shoot cold bore.

Thanks for the replies guys. I have been reading all day. Just found out I really don't need the 20 MOA base... gonna go with a 0 moa base. I'm not able to shoot 1000 yards at my range, and I have no plans to shoot that far.

Still leaning towards a fixed 6x... But I have been reading too much today...

Well, today was the day. Got both my rifles from my FFL... They are amazing. Amazingly DIRTY.. LOL... The outside of the gun is filthy... Got the CLP out and gave them both a nice bath. Cleaned up real nice. I still have to do the inside of the barrels, but I got done what I could inside the house while the wife is gone...

Next up are bases for both. They are like twins. LOL. Here are the virgins:

I've been a handgun and semi auto rifle guy for a while now, but I'm becoming increasingly interested in picking up a good bolt action like a Remington 700.

I'm not looking to make mile long shots... but up to several hundred yards.

I've been looking at and debating between the 700's and a few of the Savage guns. I've pretty much decided that I'd like to go with a 700 SPS in .308... It's an okay base gun to start with, and can be upgraded easily to a better stock later down the road.

I was originally looking at the tactical like you have here, but I'm also looking at the regular 700SPS and the 700 SPS Varmint with the longer bull barrel.

Primarily, this will be used for target practice at long range. I *MAY* go hunting at some point... but no real plans for that, yet... If I were to hunt, it would probably be Elk.

Anyone want to weight in on the sps vs sps tac vs sps varmint??? I've been reading a lot reviews... but I just can't really decide what would be the best option for me.... open to suggestions. Cheers.

Well, Both of mine will be project guns. One will be a dedicated deer rifle and the other will be use for bench and coyote hunting... I will say that I own a Savage in 22 mag and it was a really hard decision going with the Remingtons. But I did a lot of research and knew what I was getting into. If you want an out of a box shooter, go with the Savage.

I have not shot them and probably won't be for a while. I still need to get bases for the scopes and rings.

The 308 is probably going to wear a Bobby Hart thumbhole laminate stock and the 223 will be getting a B&C M40 stock.

But that could change later tonight... LOL...

As far as which version SPS to get you need to look at what bullet you are going to be shooting... The twists change for the .223 when you look at the tactical vs. the varmint.

I too started with the SPS tactical. It wasn't a bad decision at all. I like the short 20" barrel, and the weight isn't that big of an issue for me. There is a documented loss of velocity in the shorter barrels, but let's get real: 50-100 fps less velocity in a rifle that shoots 2600-2900fps isn't anything to loose sleep about. Accuracy is king, and these are 1/2 minute rifles. For the rail, I'd recommend the EGW 20 minute rail. You won't hurt a thing by going with a 20 minute over a 0. You just never know; you may find yourself on a longer range one day and that extra 20 minutes of come up will come in handy. (I hope to make it over to Ft. Knox one of these days).

On the 700 action and heavy barrel contour, I've found that the Burris XTR low rings work very well. For 1" tubes and a 40mm Objective, this leaves about 1/4" between the bell and the barrel. I started with a Bushnell Elite 3200 fixed 10X40. For hunting, it's just plain too much scope. You'd be best served with a lower magnification for hunting as you've already eluded to. 4x. 6x. For target, you gotta have a decent amount of power unless the reticle is just extremely thin. Find a good compromise with your budget. You can never spend too much money on glass, but again, let's get real. Most of us don't have budgets.

I upgraded my glass to a Vortex PST FFP 4-16X50 recently. In the field for deer, I left it at 4X and drilled two does just fine. For target, I leave it at 16. For the larger 30mm tube, again, the Burris XTR low rings fit just right on the same rail.

For the OP with two virgin rifles, I'd be tempted to buy two rails, and a QD scope mount setup. Why buy two mediocre scopes when you can buy a really good one and hot swap? I don't have two rifles so I haven't crossed that bridge yet. Anywho... here's what my SPS has become over the last 18 months...

Then there was camo...

For factory hunting ammo, I had my best luck with Federal 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. But... every rifle is different. As has already been suggested, you're going to try several before you settle on one.

No. I went with the weaver 20MOA and it has been great. Use blue loctite when attaching to rifle (not too much).

I agree with the base elevation recommendation. I went with the 20MOA base, no where near me that I plan to shoot 1k but you never know and it doesn't hurt.

Rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

As far as what rifle to buy for hunting. Get the lightest rifle you can find. Yes recoil will be more but a hunting rifle is shot often enough to stay proficient and not like a target rifle.

If you want a compromise I would say the varmint would be a good choice. Depending on what caliber you want the weight might not be an issue. .223 for example will be an easy shooter even in a light rifle.

...But going between a .223 and a .308 I don't think I could get away with that, right?

It won't matter. The zero is going to be different for both rifles; the key is to know with a fair level of certainty that the difference between the two will remain relatively constant. Once you know where each rifle zeroes, then it's just a matter of writing that down. Then a shot or two will get you to perfect zero after a rifle swap each time.

Well, I went ahead and just ordered the 700 SPS Tactical this morning. Everything I've read says that the 6 inch difference with the varmint model will only give you a difference of about 60fps between the two.

Granted, I plan on mostly using it to punch paper... but I will occiaisionally take it out hiking to some remote areas up north and stuff. It seems like the compact size should still give me plenty of power and accuracy. I will probably end up doing a replacement stock as well.

I'm sure you'll see me posting in here a bit more now... surely there will be some questions. Excited to get into a new realm of guns...

Congratualtions, I also have a new one... Remington 700 'SPS Tactical' AAC-SD .308 ... awesome awesome awesome. Basically the same as yours, slightly different stock, slightly different barrel, slightly different badging.

I absolutely love mine- Just got a new awesome Harris Bipod (S-BRM or as everyone on the internets seems to write it, BRMS) which is an Ultralight, Hinged -flexible left to right, leg notched, spring loaded 6"-9" bipod that just is amazing, a Nikon Monarch 5-20x44mm Side Focus, Bullet Drop Compensating reticle scope, and a Viking Tactical VTAC Wide/Padded sling... just extremely happy.

I am not a LEO, and certainly not a qualified/trained military sniper... and my rifle is not an exact copy of a M24 or M40 ... more like, an M32 (halfway copied the M24 halfway copied the M40 but neither exactly)... And honestly I could not be happier. I feel like this rifle can last me forever, do anything I will ever need it to do, be more accurate and longer range than I will ever need it to be, and offer me enough upgrade and tinkering options that I'll forever be happy with it just adding a piece or part here and there, upgrading a little bit etc.

Thanks! Still waiting for the rifle to get here... I ordered from Bud's with the e-check thing, so it takes a few days to process..

I was looking at that same rifle you have as well. I was really considering it just for the threaded barrel. I would love to get a suppressor for it at some point... but I just don't know how long that would be. If I start getting suppressors, I'll probably get one for my AR first anyways. If that works out and I want to suppress this thing, I guess I could always rebarrel at that time.

I'm planning on adding the same bipod that you have there as well. I will probably upgrade the stock eventually too... but I'll spend a little time getting comfortable with it first before I decide what type of stock I actually want. I'll probably only be shooting 200-300 yards while getting comfortable anyways, so not a huge deal. I'm thinking I'll drop in a Timney trigger as well.

I didn't get mine for the threaded barrel to be honest, I know in NJ we will never get a suppressor... More likely the rest of the nation loses whatever gun rights they currently have than we Gain anything. BUT- We might be moving next year and the 3 state as options are all really friendly firearms wise so I might be able to get one in the future.. In that case I would just get the stuff started right away... Probably an ACC .308 suppressor for my Remington 700 AAC-SD (Like to match my stylin and profilin tacticool equipment gear son!!!)

And in the event this worked and I could do NFA stuff I would totally be getting myself a short AR like a real-sized-and-shaped M4 or more realistically, a Mk 18 sized carbine w/ suppressor to go all types of SOCOM / Special Forces / SEALs on the neighborhood agressors come SHTF.

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